angeles. >> interesting. they've been talking about who like it is and doesn't like it, the people who have them on as guests love the video and the people who didn't get them on first think it's cheesy. >> okay. we still like olivia and john. >> everything old is new again. good morning. thank you for watching 9news at 5:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. happy friday. thanks for joining us. i'm mike hydeck. good morning, monika. you a big fan? >> i like both of them. >> olga? >> good morning. we're looking good. cloud cover yes but our temperatures are cool and we'll improve as we head into the middle portion of the morning. we will have to put up with a little bit of dampness as the showers are possible. picking up on our doppler 9000 right now, you can see a few of the showers. so far so good. pavement dry in the immediate metro area but portions of southern maryland and southwestern virginia are already seeing some of that moisture. it's going to continue to move on through. that means the kids definitely need some rain fear as they -- rain gear as they head towards the bus stop this morning.

we could see sprinkles early day and mid afternoon as well. temperatures on the chilly side. right now in the 30s. after sunrise we'll see some improvement. satellite and radar will keep a constant stream of some of this moisture through but the thunderstorms that stay well to our west. this will be a little bit after nuisance rain. right now 38 in arlington. 37 in rockville. yes, it will be cool but we will see an improvement as we head into saturday's forecast. high of 65 and back to the as on sunday. monika? well, things generally speaking look good outside. no major issues to report on our thoroughfares heading for 495. that includes the dulles toll road coming in from sterling. 66 coming in from manassas. a good time to head out right now. all of your lanes are open. we'll take a live look outside and show what you it looks like on the beltway if you're planning to head here at the american legion bridge. it's light across the potomac river here and coming around from bethesda as well on 495. let's go back to the maps. this time we're heading to the other side of the town on the beltway north of town. looking good from college park

into silver spring. we'll take a live look southbound i-95 at route 212 coming in from baltimore down to the beltway, college park and into prince george's county as well. east side of town traffic is looking good. i'll be back in a few minutes at 5:10. back to you guys. >> thank you. looking at the fiscal cliff, well, the senate became entangled in one aspect of the federal debt problem thursday by debating a bill to allow the president to increase the debt ceiling without congressional approval. >> the republicans who initially brought the bill to the floor were not happy when it came to the changes that the democrats forced so they blocked it from moving forward. the president shared his views with a virginia family when it comes to the fiscal cliff and tax cuts that could happen. delia goncalves is live on capitol hill with more on that this morning. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning. mike, andrea, it appears we were here live on capitol hill just two weeks ago talking about a compromise. remember that? well, now we're back and it seems that those talks that had so much promise, well, they

seem they've come to a screeching halt. now congress people are pointing the finger among increasing pressure to strike a deal before the january 1 deadline. they're now blaming each other for stalling talks that could send us off a fiscal cliff. in a surprise visit to a falls church family, the president emphasized he will refuse to sign a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthy but republicans say that's a deal breaker. his stance they say proves the president is not interested in striking a balanced deal, simp in spending more and raising the debt ceiling. but the president says his main concern is certainly the middle- class families of america. he does not want to burden them with the potential $2,000 a year hike in taxes. meanwhile, republican senator jim demint of south carolina among all -- in the midst of all the fiscal cliff talks and the pressure that's mounting

here on capitol hill, well, the senator resigned the senate yesterday. he said he's going to head a conservative think tank claiming he can do more there than he can do here in congress. we'll have another report in a half-hour. back to you. >> delia goncalves with that june date from capitol hill. local lawmakers are talking to 9news about the fiscal cliff. maryland senator democrat ben cardin says with the government already cutting a trillion dollars, the republicans need to give on revenue tax hikes for higher income earners. when derek mcginty asked senator cardin if he'd stay locked in a negotiating room over the holidays, he said absolutely. >> we can't allow us to go off the fiscal cliff. it would be disastrous for our economy. it would be a self-inflicted wound. we've got to get it double. woaf' -- done. we've got to compromised. yes, i think we should stay in a locked room till we get this done. >> you can stay up to date on e fiscal cliff any time on our website wusa9.com.

click on the fiscal cliff tab on our home page for more stories on how the cliff could impact you. prince george's county police made an arrest wednesday -- made an arrest in wednesday morning's murder of a teenager in lewisdale. the suspect jose nunez is facing murder charges now. 14-year-old eliezer reyes was killed during a drive by shooting. they. they think this murder is gang related. in virginia prince william county police are searching for a masked sexual predator. the man tricked and assaulted a hotel clerk at the econolodge in woodbridge earlier this week according to police. they say it appears the man phoned his victim, pretended to be a guest locked out of a room. when she went to help, the masked man was hiding behind a stairwell. he pull add knife on the clerk, forced her into an empty room and sexually assaulted her sphwhrz they'll have to wait a few more weeks to make it official but some same-sex

couples in maryland now have their marriage licenses. county courthouses around the free state started issuing those lrnses yesterday. some -- licenses yesterday. some excited couples have already booked their ceremonies at the montgomery county courthouse for the first week in january. legally couples can't get married in maryland till january 1. time for the latest your money report now. >> jessica doyle is here with today's headlines. how are we looking as we're heading into the weekend? >> it all depends on the job market this morning. take that with a grain of salt with the economic data coming out. we're going to focus in on the health of jobs. might not get the clearest of pictures today. sandy last month is expected to dampen the results of the november employment report. it is due out before the bell at 8:30 and ahead of the report, the dow starts at 13,074 after adding 40 points in trading yesterday. nasdaq was up by 15. the s&p 500 added five points. how would you like to be able to keep your cell phone on during future flights? according to "the new york

times," the chairman of the federal communications commission is urging the federal aviation administration to allow more electronics aboard planes. the article says the scc had sent a letter to faa requesting the use of tablets, e-readers and portable devices from takeoff to landing. the faa requires passengers of course to turn off their phones, tablets and excusers during take -- and computers during takeoff even though there's no proof it interferes. there is a pizza scented perfume in canada. ode to pizza hut. it's very excompliewsive. sorry, there are only 110 bottles made -- exclusive. sorry, there are only 110 bottles made. they're being shipped to select people who responded to a promotional campaign on facebook. a marketing executive says only time will tell whether ode to pizza hut will make it to

department stores. >> bacon pizza. you can have it scented with bacon and pizza. >> i predict 110 bottles will still be around. >> it's a great gag gift. think about that. >> depends on how much it costs. you are coming back with more in the next half-hour. >> we were getting off the couch together the last ten or so weeks. you were helping me with my 5k. we'll continue to get off the couch, staying healthy, staying motivated. we're bundling up. >> sounds good. we are awaiting updates from japan where a earthquake prompted a tsunami about an hour ago. hundreds of people in new jersey still want answers about a long train derailment that's going to keep them out of their homes. we'll explain. ahead in sports, final preparations are under way for sunday's battle of the beltways this time with the raishens at

fed -- ravens at fed ex field. we'll be back.

welcome back. olga breese in for howard bernstein this morning. doppler radar is picking up on some of that moisture. spotty showers are possible through much of the day. we'll make it to the mid-40s by noontime w. he should hit highs in the low to -- noontime. we should hit highs in the low to mid-50s. construction still in please here at the key bridge. i don't think it will be cleared till at least 5:30. it may affect your drive just a bit coming inbound on can fall

road this morning. i'll be back with more traffic coming up at 5:18. back to you, mike. here is what's making news now at 5:11 this morning. the latest reports out of japan have greatly diminished the size of a tsunami that was warned that may hit. they did it within the hour. it was issued after a magnitude 7.3 quake rattled the same area hit by a massive quake in march of 2011. buildings in tokyo swayed but still no serious damage reports yet. new details emerge about last month's deadly fire in bangladesh. an official tells the associated press the factory lost its fire safety certification in june. the building was also five stories higher than it was supposed to be. the factory produced clothes for companies like wal-mart and disney. it's been a week since the train derailment and chemical leak in new jersey forced hundreds of people out of their homes. now evacuees are trying to figure out when the heck they can go back and things will return to normal.

the train cars have been declared chemical free which means crews can pull them out of the water this weekend but they're still not getting any sign of when they can go home. if you need to flee to a dark place after the glare of all the holiday displays and everything, take a look at what's new inside movie theaters coming up at 5:57. gl in sports at 5:22-- >> in sports at a:22, if you're not shopping, you won't change the channel to catch this weekend's best football game. >> we'll all be tuned to 9 that weekend. next at 5:15, temperatures aren't bad but there are a lot of raindrops in olga's seven- day forecast. we'll be back. you're watching 9news.

good morning. welcome back to 9 news now. 40 degrees in the metro area. will you need a heavy coat? will you need an umbrella? olga breese is in to tell us that. >> i would check both of those off your list this morning as you get set to step out the door. it does looks like we'll try to pull in a peek of sunshine through the later half of the day but right now the clouds are socking us in. doppler radar had that moisture moving in from the south and southeast. we'll continue with mostly cloud cover through most of the day today. cool temperatures this morning. some of us have already dipped down into the 30s. most of us are sitting right around 40 degrees. that will hold steady till about the 9:00 hour. then as things start to improve after sunrise, we'll begin to move out of the 40s and into the 50s. i think most of us will top out

right around 53 to 55 degrees later on this afternoon. that should happen during the 3:00, 4:00 hour. and then after sunset temperatures definitely will take a dive if you're heading out this weekend. the futurecast forecast model breaks it down like this for our short-term forecast. although we have some moisture moving through this morning, notice most is staying up north of the beltway. some of that will stream down into our region. for the most part we'll just see these off and on showers as we get into the afternoon. then later this evening, i'm expecting a few breaks in the cloud cover. mostly cloudy skies overnight with just a little bit of clearing from time to time. tomorrow morning looks like a dry start to your saturday. a cool one as well with temperatures back down in the 40s and 30s, but then partial sunshine into the afternoon on our saturday which will help bump our temperatures into the 60s. so an improvement as we start off the weekend. as we get into sunday and monday, there are a few ups and downs in that seven-day newscast. i'll detail that for you in a couple of seconds.

today's highs should make it to the lower range to middle 50s for most of us. we'll see slightly warmer air down toward the south but overall it will be an overcast and gray day for most of us. the temperatures tonight won't dip quite as low. we should be sticking to the middle range 60s in and around town. we could see some of those lower 40s or i should say middle range 40s around town, lower range 40s off to the north and toward the west. we will definitely keep today as our code yellow day because some of those downpours could move on through fairly briskly later on this afternoon. a relatively cool day. we're a little bit below average only hitting about 53 for the afternoon. but saturday looks mild. we'll get that partial sunshine. maybe even a stray shower on saturday but the chances are very, very low. things are cooler on sunday as we have a slight wind shift. take a look at our seven-day forecast. sunday not too bad for the redskins-ravens game but on monday, we warm things up into the middle range and even push some of those upper 60s. monika? >> well, overall it's still

very quiet. it's what we call friday morning light. we love that, especially when we have to go to work early on a friday morning. things look good on the bw parkway and route 50 through sheverly. no issues -- cheverly. no issues into the northeast corridor. if you're heading south to the sousa bridge, you'll have to continue to 295 and take it to the 11 rght street bridge to -- 11th street bridge to get on it the freeway because the sousa bridge is shut down for the next 18 to 20 months. on the beltway near kennel worth avenue, all that construction has been cleared up for the morning. no issues here on the east side of town in prince george's county on 495. back over to the maps. this time to virginia. on the northbound side of i-95 it's still quiet as well. triangle, dumfries all the way to woodbridge, a live on to 395 at duke street still looking great. main and hov all the way up to the 14th street bridge. i'll be back with more traffic at 5:24. back to you guys. >> this morning you, monika. if you root for the redskins in the nfc and the ravens in the afc, what a weekend you're going to have

this weekend. both sides say the nhl lockout is nowhere close to being over. stay tuned. >> before we go, let's look at the question of the day once again. women tend to run longer in the morning after they have done one of these things. is it a, had a stressful day at work, b, got a good night sleep, or c, drinking beer the night before. >> facebook fan page fan jackie wrote, b. >> what do you think? put the answer on our facebook page. we'll have the answer to the quiz in about an hour and a half from now.

welcome back at 5:21. i'm olga breese in for howard bernstein this morning. moisture is moving on through. we'll have showers off and on through the morning and midday. we're starting off with cloud cover. moisture will move through. temperatures out of the 30s and 40s. should top out right around the lower range to middle 50s by late other this afternoon. but then things are looking good as we head into the overnight tonight. sparks of hope when it comes to ending the nhl lockout? >> and the battle of the beltways this sunday. dave owens has your morning sports. the birds have won 53 games and washington 29. the fortunes of the franchises seem to be taking divergent

paths. not ni more. a month ago most would have predicted the ravens-skins to be lopsided in favor of the ravens. but now the equation includes rg3. the burgundy and gold feel they can compete with anybody and the playoffs are reality. >> guys are playing under the must win situation. guys are taking it to hart. -- to heart. if we keep playing the way we're playing, we can beat anybody. >> part of the big weekend of football. earl-navy saturday at rg 3:00 followed by the game at 7:00. redskins-ravens kickoff at 1:00 right here after the game for a post-game show from 5:00 to 6:00 and game on overtime wraps up at 11:55. bargain and compromise, it's the cornerstone of every negotiation but eight in short supply in new york right now where the nhl is trying to figure out a way to play. there was momentum over the

weekend. now it is gone. players and owners worked into the wee hours of the night the last couple of days. no resolution. now yesterday there was a rumor that a deal might be imminent but listen to the sides. that rumor categorically false. >> the characterization that i've just heard transmitted to us that we were close, that reminds me of the last time the union said we were close and we were a billion dollars apart. >> it looks like this is not going to be resolved in the immediate future. i hope that turns out to be wrong, but that's certainly what the message is that we have today. >> that is not good. that's a quick look at sports. have a great friday, everybody. there's virtually zero chance lawmakers will reach a deal on the fiscal cliff the next few days. we'll tell you why that's the case. >> plus, the u.s. is preparing a response in case syria takes extreme action against its own citizens. here's monika. just volume right now on

the inbound side of i-66 manassas to centreville. then it's all clear to the beltway. no issues as we head insides the beltway on 66 to the roosevelt bridge. more traffic coming up at 5:30. you're watching 9news. we'll be right back. sunday morning on "biocentury this week," are proceed -- paula stephan says yes, watch "biocentury this week"

hello and welcome back to 9news now on this friday morning. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck just back from a morning jog. the coffee machine is up stairs and i made it there and back during the break. >> as long as he has his coffee. >> it makes everything better for everybody. olga is here for howard bernstein. >> we started off with cloud cover. we'll stick with that through most of the day today. some. us will get a little peek of sunshine but most of us will see those showers start to move on through. i'd say the next hour or two. doppler radar still showing

moisture from the west. it's bringing in a lot of moisture so that will be constant into the afternoon. right now at the reagan national airport sitting at 40 degrees. we've been holding steady for the last two hours or so. winds again will stay predominantly out of the south and southwest for the afternoon. overall, though, today is going to be fairly gloomy for most of us although we're sitting in the 30s and 40s this hour, we'll make it to the middle and push the upper 40s by the noontime and have the umbrella handy. we're calling today a yellow alert today as we do have an opportunity for those showers. in all temperatures today a little bit on the cool side. tomorrow much milder as we start to dry things out, especially into the afternoon and evening hours. your saturday looks fantastic. for the redskins-ravens game, it's going to be on the cooler side but not too bad. partly sunny with a chance of a showers. highs in the 50s. i'm bringing you good news. if you're just about to head out the door, got to get your coat on and then you're fine. no problems to report on any of our major thoroughfares.

look behind me. all green still on 270. this is normally when it starts to get heavy. right now i would say you're good to go. frederick down all the way to clarksburg and the point where the lanes divide. let's show you what it looks like and prove it to you at shady grove road. traffic moving well down to the beltway. let's go to the maps this time to the inside of the beltway. i love showing all the bridges because a the low of times we get confused to the order of the bridges. roosevelt, memorial, case bridge, 14th street bridge, 11th street bridge, everything looks good. still nice and light into the downtown area leaving 395. i'll be back with more traffic coming up at 5:39. back to you guys. the u.s. could be making plans to respond if syria uses chemical weapons. >> the concern is syria's embattled government could resort to chemical weapons in a civil war that is intensifying around the capital of damascus. susan mcginnis has more. >> reporter: rockets streak across the syrian sky as the battle between rebel forces and

government troops moves to the outskirts of the capital of damascus. military analyst jeffrey white says it's only a matter of time before the bloody civil war is over. >> you can feel it. you can sense t. looks like the regime is being defeated. >> reporter: intelligence officials say chemical weapons believed to be stored at this syrian base have been primed and are ready for use. >> we remain very concerned, very concerned that as the opposition advances, in particular on damascus, that the regime might very well consider the use of chemical weapons. >> reporter: so far the u.s. has been very reluctant to use military force to help the overthrow of syrian president bashar al-assad but reports he is considering using chemical weapons have some on capitol hill now calling for the president to get tough with the dictator. >> we urge the president of the united states to make whatever

military preparations are necessary to show assad that the united states is fully willing and able to impose the consequences that he has spoken of in the event these weapons are used. >> reporter: secretary of state hillary clinton met with her russian counterpart thursday to secure russia's support. >> the international community, this goes to your question about the russians, is united on this issue. >> reporter: but all sides say they hope to first find a diplomatic solution to end the syrian civil war. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. an estimated 40,000 people have been killed or wounded in syria's civil war. it's been almost two years since the fighting first started. most of the house of representatives has cleared out of town since they won't have a fiscal cliff deal to vote on this weekend. >> while both sides are talking about the need to compromise, it doesn't sound like either side is ready to make any serious concessions. 9news reporter delia goncalves is live on capitol hill with more. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning.

many americans and some senators simply cannot believe with so much at stake here for the country that the house would essentially take a long weekend off at home. but many republicans believe they can do much more at home than here in washington. both sides remain at odds on how to solve the crisis. the two sticks points? obama's proposal to tax the wealth 2% and the debt ceiling, the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling is expected to hit its limit mid-february. democrats want to remove the limit therefore removing the threat of default. they say that would allow the government to pay off medicare benefits, military salaries and tax refunds. >> this is a solvable problem. the senate has already pass add bill that would make sure the middle class taxes do not go up next year by a single dime.

just to be clear, i'm not going to sign any package -- >> reporter: meanwhile republican senator jim demint of south carolina announced his resignation yesterday. he is going to head a conservative think tank and many question his timing for leaving congress, right at the height of all these fiscal cliff talks but he believes he can do more work and more work heading up that conservative think tank. coming up at 6:00, we'll tell you what president obama had to tell that falls church family about the fiscal cliff and how it would affect them. we'll have that coming up in a half-hour. back to you, mike, andrea. >> thanks, delia live on capitol hill this morning. today residents in one northeast d.c. neighborhood are getting some welcome news from mayor vincent gray. the mayor will announce the first phase of a massive tunnel infrastructure project in the bloomingdale community. the area has seen repeated

street flooding. we've reported many times when heavy storms come in. the northeast neighborhood boundary protection project is the brian child of -- brainchild of vincent gray. there is an easy way to pick up some extra items for kids. details on the letters to santa program coming up. it's december 7. here's who's celebrating a birth daig today. she plays the cooking mom in last month's political series ellen burstyn is 80. carol simpson is 72. johnny bench is 65. maine senator susan collins is 60 today. larry bird is 56. his former teams include the cowboys and the eagles, terrell owens is 39 today. if it's your birthday, have a great day. we'll be right back.

grab your coat, scarf and gloves. it's brisk out this morning. temperatures in the 30s and 40s. our day planner is going to keep the clouds around. we'll have the opportunity for some showers as we go through the day. we'll move out of the 30s and 40s. should top out in the lower range 50s. maybe about 5at reagan national. owe. there's a slight warm-up on the way. i'll have details coming up.

you'll see the volume on the increase right now, but other than that, lanes are open for the most part. here on 95, a good example as you head up from 644 to the beltway. no issues on the beltway leaving springfield through annandale and up toward 66 and the toll road. i'll be back with more traffic coming up in a few minutes at 5:48. jess? thanks, monika. i've been combing through the day's daily deals, e-mails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts and favorites on this trip. on your next road trip, this could bring you some peace in the back seat. a portable dvd player perfect for playing cartoons and movies for the kiddos. a 9-inch portable dvd player is on sale at bestbuy.com for $59.99. it saves you 50% off plus free shipping. target.com is running a buy one, get one free deal. pay $29.99 for a pair of mossimo juniors jeans and get one free. this should come in handy before the holiday parties.

you'll pay $59 and you'll get four blowouts at the release the blowdry bar on h street. it saves you 51%. you'll find that deal on living social. if you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. over you to, mike. >> thanks, jess. an update on our breaking news. there were tsunami warnings for northeast japan after an earthquake this morning. the tsunami warnings have officially been canceled so that's good news. also still ahead, some expert tips on keeping the holidays from weighing so heavily around your waistline. >> are you ready for some football? boy, can we satisfy that appetite. just stay with us on channel 9. tomorrow the annual army-navy game starts at 3:00. then we'll have a complete wrapup at 7:00 on "game on." >> then on sunday the redskins hosting the ravens at fed ex field. this is going to be a hot one. followed by a special game on presentation after that. >> it is 5:41. we want to take another look at our question of the morning.

women tend to run longer in the morning after they've done this. is it a, had a stressful day of work, b, got an good night sleep or c, drinking beer the night before? >> alicia wrote, i don't know about you but if i had a stressful day of work, i would come home and have a glass of wine, a good night sleep and maybe dream about running. if i had to pick one, it would be a. >> log on to the wp usa9 facebook fan -- to the wusa9 facebook fan page. leave your response and reasoning. we'll have the answer in about an hour. [ libe ] le dnkrae ic oha lonn wer.

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hello. welcome back to 9news now. it is 5:44. yellow alert day meaning we've got some precip in the forecast. >> it could complicate things for a few folks later on this morning and into the afternoon. right now most of us are in the clear. the radar is pulling up some of take moisture southern portions of maryland, even portions of southern virginia now starting to move on up to the southeast. we'll continue with some cool temperatures this morning. bundle up if you're going outside. right now in the 30s to near 40

degrees for most of us. we're going to keep it fairly cool. the sunshine will start to move on in later on this afternoon. that will help us out just a touch but for most of us, it will be just partly sunny at best. satellite and radar shows just how much cloud cover is around. this is going to stick around. only inches forward slowly. still in the 40s through the 9:00 hour. we should hit the lower to middle 40s by lunch time and then top out right around 50, 53 degrees at 4:00 in the average. if you have evening plans for this friday, though, bundle up. you'll need it as you step outside. notice some of the moisture down around leonardtown, the sprinkles moving across the potomac river. that should hit la plata in the next 30 to 40 minutes. we're definitely seeing some moisture north and west. this is going to be the case for the short term. overnight tonight, according to futurecast, we will get a little bit of a break into the afternoon and evening hours. much of the d.c. metro stays clear but we are seeing steadier downpours along the

mason-dixon line to the north. overnight clouds stick around but the rain tapers off. temperatures will stay in the 40s tonight. then tomorrow the partial clearing i talked about is going to help boost our temperatures out of the 50s and, yes, into the 60s. not bad for early on in december. we are forecasting quite a few changes as we head into the coming week ahead. so here's what you need to know for today. high temperatures right around the lower range to middle 50s for reagan national. we should see a few of those upper 40s off toward the north but still not bad for a december day. tonight's temperatures mieldz by comparison to -- mild by comparison to what we've been through. most of us in the 40s. we shouldn't see any of -- we should see 30s early on saturday morning. it looks like we stick with a green alert for saturday and for sunday. temperatures will be a little milder as we head into the beginning of next week. although we have a slight

cooldown for that sunday game between the ravens and the redskins. looks like those temperatures should be quite comfortable in the 50s. the overnight lows are fairly reasonable. there are no 30s on the map for the early portions of the week. however, we will see a nice warm up with come monday. it's back to work and back to school with partly sunny skies and we'll definitely see our temperatures push the middle range 60s and even some of those upper 60s down to the south. things change on tuesday. that's when the next system comes our way. it's going to cool us back dramatically into the 50s and 40s and, yes, those overnight lows could even dip down near the freezing mark by wednesday night. monika? >> all right, olga. if you're planning to head around town, i'm happy to say that other than the brake lights that you're going to see on some of the major thoroughfares, we don't have any major incidents to report. that's always a good thing. if you're planning to head over to the beltway like yesterday, we had the big truck accident on the outer loop of 270, it's all clear this morning. no issues college park as you

head toward bethesda, southbound 270 in good shape as well downing toward the slip. let's take a live look outside. here's what it looks like on 95 at route 212 coming in from baltimore. no issues to calverton and the beltway and prince george's county on the east side looks good as well. let's go back to the maps this time over to 95 in virginia. on the northbound side a little bit of slow traffic coming in from the south right now as you head toward triangle leaving quantico. no issues across the occoquan river in woodbridge. a li look one more time outside. this time we're taking a look 395 at the 14th street bridge into the downtown area. all the potomac and an cost came crossings -- owe anacostia crossings look like this. metro has major projects getting under way late tonight. the yellow line will be closed for inspection of the bridge across the potomac river. in virginia yellow line trains will follow the blue line tracks from the pentagon into d.c. through eastern market. you'll have to use the green line instead of the yellow line between fort totten and archives. also on the green line shuttles will run between archives and

waterfront and there won't be any green line service at l'enfant plaza. so the five stations at the northeast end of the red line will all be closed this weekend. that's tacoma, silver spring, forest glen, wheaton and glenmont. shuttle buses will run between the fort totten and glenmont stations and there's also single tracking on the blue and orange lines. those riders should allow an extra 15 minutes of travel time. we'll have all this information on our website as well. i'll be back in a few minutes with more traffic at 6:00. >> thanks, monika. with 18 days until christmas, santa is going through thousands of letters trying to grant as many wishes as possible. unfortunately, though, santa can't get to every letter. >> that's why the united states postal service runs operation santa where it asks you to help santa. you can adopt a child or a family and help make this a merry christmas for them. here's just one of the many letters to santa. >> hi, santa claus, i need your help. i have six great kids that need to have a good christmas this year.

i am a single parent with a kid with cerebral palsy and i take care of him every day. i would like to know if you can help make my kids' christmas a wonderful one. thank you. >> if you'd like to help families like this one, pick up a letter from the main post office on brent woodz road in northeast -- brentwood road in northeast washington. they'll have information you need to help make christmas for local families. along with helping others this holiday, it's never too early to think about helping ourselves to get a little healthier by getting off the couch. personal trainers are here to remind us about the importance of motivation and keeping up your workout routine. this time of year we're hitting the holiday parties. we put on a sweater to cover up our expanding waistlines. >> the first exercise we'll do are three simple exercises. the first one will be kind of like a teamworkout. you're both going to be facing each other. the first one we'll do, she'll

be doing a squat and you'll be doing a squat. >> teamwork. >> one squat and one squat. then she'll do two squats in a row and you do two squats in a row. >> i just lost my balance. >> stay on your heels. >> i have two trainers training me this morning. what kind of luck is this. >> now she's going to do some jump squats. she's going to jump and squat at the same time and land nice and soft. she's doing four. >> i'm going to hold my microphone. >> there you go. one more. relax. >> good. >> the whole point is working together with a team. >> correct. >> this is how we're staying motivated. >> we're going to be in a pushup position. we're going to go elbow, elbow, up, up. >> she me the girl version. >> you'll be on your knees and you'll be doing up, up, down,

down. >> we do this together? >> together. up, up, down, down. that's one. then we switch. towards the right and then with the left. this is going to train your core and triceps and upper body. then you'll be on one leg and quickly jump to the right and jump to the left. you can do this for 30 second or a minute at a time. >> why is working together as a team more motivating? why are you less likely to not show up or put your full effort in? >> because you're responsible -- you guys are responsible for each other. even though you're pushing each other, you're responsible. it's an ego thing, too. i like to try to make sure-- >> you want to do a little bit after showoff thing there. you want to put it out there.

>> exactly. >> what do you think is the biggest motivation killer this time of year when it comes to working out? because we are eating more. we're partying more. you would think we should be working out more but sometimes the opposite happens. >> right. it's a lot colder outside also so it's harder for people to exercise. if you give yourself some little goals every day to get some kind of cardio, any kind of cardio, could be walking the dog for 20 minutes, going to the gym, walking, run, anying, just be out there. >> i didn't know personal trainers trained each other. i'm learning stuff every day. >> i've been with him for six years. i was overweight six years ago and thanks to this man, i got involved in fitness, learning how to eat well, even though sometimes i go off the wagon a bit. but he gets on me. but he keeps me centered and realistic as opposed to doing things that are not realistic in materials of fitness. >> i want to thank you so much for coming in this morning and

helping us get off the couch. >> thank you. >> i'm going to send it over to mike and andrea. >> thank you. still ahead, 5:44, coming up, a closer look at the impact the fiscal cliff is going to have on government contractors in and around the d.c. area. >> but first, we'll take a look at the big movie opening in theaters this weekend. a romantic comedy.

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welcome back. denise is here to talk about two movies. one is "playing for keeps" starring gerard butler. i just read a review in the "chicago tribune." they say in there take only butler and his costar live this above the level of blah. playing for keeps" is too bad for gerard butler because he became such a star with "300." he deserves to be such a star. >> he was considered the ultimate male hotty. what happened? >> it's still a hotty. but this is a predictable romantic comedy with so much talent. jessica biel, dennis quaid.

what's wrong with hollywood sometimes because they had $35 million to do this movie. they could have done a better movie because the talent is there and the acting is there. >> huge talent in this movie [ inaudible ] >> he was going to find out that no -- the curious distribution because this time of year is when you expect to see the titans ever the screen. you expect to see the big box office draws like the hobbit or big dramas like lincoln. this stuff gets lost. this stuff gets released in january or february, not this time of the year. >> wrong timing and really horrible reviews. we're going to move on. >> but it's worth it because of gerard butler. >> i think the ladies in the movies just wanted to be in it because of him. do you say that this will be in wider release? this is also getting terrible reviews. >> this is not really as bad as

-- could be so much better [ inaudible ] >> the writing is awful. the acting. >> it's too many plots, too many story lines in the same movie. there's at least four of them. again, this one has a lot of talent. crist christopherson, they did a lot for the money. the acting is very solid. >> it's a little dark for this time of year. you know what i'm going to do? i'm going to stick to the christmas specials. what do you think? frosty the snowman? back to you. >> one of my favorites. >> i'm tired of frosty. >> i'm not tired of frosty. >> rudolph. there we go. there we go. thank you for watching and not being too tired to watch us at 6:00 a.m. good morning. happy friday. i'm andrea roane. >> it's not bad. whether you're